Castlevania: Curse of Darkness

Konami has officially tried four times to take the Castlevania series to 3D. Originally, the concept was initiated way back on the Nintendo 64 with the games Castlevania 64 and Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, both very mediocre, hard-to-control games that ended up failing in the market. However, with the advent of the Playstation 2, XBOX, and Gamecube generation, Konami had new hope- the hope to take Castlevania into 3D and specifically NOT mess it up. So, after the somewhat mediocre release of Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, it was time for Konami to gear up, lick their wounds, and try one big thust into 3D with the release of Castlevania: Curse of Darkness.

Curse of Darkness, much like the phenomenal Symphony of the Night, is very different from it's predecessors. In the game, Hector, a man who once gave up his powers as a devil forge master, must reclaim his powers in order to stop Issac, who set up a false trial to burn Hector's love, Rosaly, to death on the stake. Much like Symphony of the Night, the game takes an unique spin and places you in the shoes of those who would have been, at least in the older game's perspective, considered evil, and gives you all of the powers associated with it.



This unique perspective ends up making Curse of Darkness the best 3D Castlevania out there, but I have to restrain myself from saying that it matches up to any of the older 2D games- which is disappointing, because it gets so close. As Hector is a Devil forge master, he has the unique ability to create what are known in the game as “Innocent Devils”- assistants to fight with him. Being able to uniquely craft and maintain them, as well as level them up and transform them based on their use in combat, Innocent Devils are essentially gothic Pokemon that live in the dark and fight demons and evildoers. While at first this concept drew a groan from me, I have to admit it grew on me from time to time. Innocent Devils are not so much used as a main form of battle (And thankfully do not demand maintenance at all), but rather serve as a kind of proxy to do your will, and do it quite well.

This can be shown in multiple ways. For example, at the very start of the game, you are given the Innocent Devil “Lin”- a fairy that heals your wounds based on it's own HP. Because Innocent Devils use a “heart” system (reminiscing back to the old Castlevania days of hearts to use items) that serves as both their HP and MP, the only worry about keeping Lin alive was keeping her well stocked with hearts, dropped from virtually every enemy you fight. Of course, Innocent Devils come in all shapes and sizes- from a huge magma battle Innocent Devil that slams the ground and sends enemies flying, to the “Bird” Innocent Devil style, with extremely powerful bombing attacks and the ability to transfer HP from enemy to ally (Which comes in handy, trust me).

With that engine in mind, I can delightfully say that Curse of Darkness plays on the original Castlevania style more than I had expected. With an open area to run and explore, the game no longer crams you into “Levels” (As Lament of Innocence did), and allows you to essentially explore the long worlds you have at your disposal. Straight from Castlevania IV, the game is not so much built on a castle as it is the outside of the castle, which means that instead of being based around a huge castles with miscellaneous paths all over the place, the game is long and almost linear, which can be a blessing and a curse. Much akin to the loved MetroidVania style, a lot of the game is finding skills and learning new abilities to get to new areas and unlock new doors, and backtracking can result in massive bonuses- so long as you know what you're doing.



And now for the million dollar question- weaponry. One of the highlights of the Castlevania series has been the whip, but due to the fact that many new characters (Alucard, Soma Cruz, and now Hector) are not from the Belmont clan, they cannot use the whip- and thus are left at an impasse game-wise. However, Curse of Darkness has what I would consider the best and the most fun weapons engine of any Castlevania game, featuring tons of weapons to use at your disposal. What makes this the most fun is that instead of buying, or worse, finding the weapons randomly, you forge them- meaning a lot of the game is based around finding/stealing new material to build new weapons. The familiar Konami tongue-in-cheek style is also present, with weapons like a naily baseball bat, a broom, and others- but teaming along with some truly devastating weapons, like the Zweihander or generally any given Axe.

But no wine goes untainted, and in Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, there are some serious flaws that sometimes pull back gameplay. First and foremost, I felt that Konami still missed the whole concept of the original Castlevania series, and in that, they ended up shooting themselves in the foot. While I like the level design, I found that for the most part, it was very linear and somewhat boring- and the pathways were predictable. For example, for about every level in the game there is a fork which merges later on- this kind of pattern is replicated something like 20 games through the entire title, which gets insanely boring very quickly. Along with levels that sometimes feel very open and pointless, the level design could have used some work.

Another issue I had was the XBOX control scheme. Whereas the PS2 control scheme is beyond phenomenal (though standard to most action games on the system), the XBOX control scheme left a little to be desired, especially in the targeting system. To target an enemy (which is done frequently, as it is part of the mechanic to “Steal”), you must hit the Black button- which is either at the base of your thumb or way above it. This results in a somewhat irritating grab to get it, when it is tied to one of the L2/R2 buttons on the PS2 version- which is MUCH easier. I suppose there was not much Konami could do, but I would have liked to see SOMETHING done to fix this problem.

But, there are some things that are half and half- and to start that off, let me mention the graphics. The team at Konami that works the Castlevania series is famous for their 2D work, but unfortunately they sometimes fall short on 3D, and this tends to be the case with Curse of Darkness. While CG parts of the game are absolutely phenomenal, and even the character model for Hector is great, everything else tends to fall short and look rather bland, especially in the scenery department. The animations are smooth and beautiful to play, but when it comes down to looking at the models for the game, they seem remarkably blocky and quite ugly- and considering beautiful games like Black can be pumped out on both the PS2 and XBOX, I doubt there was that much need to make things so simplistic.



Of course, before I end the review, I must gush about the music, which continues the Castlevania legacy of being freaking awesome. While the sound is generic and really doesn't stand out much, the music itself is so good that it is one of the few games I specifically turned on my stereo system for- and I enjoyed every second of it. The songs are now longer than ever (Abandoned Castle being something like 8 minutes long) and still as good as they were 5 years ago, and, of course, are always new and innovative. I am honestly surprised that the Castlevania soundtracks are overlooked when it comes to this kind of quality.

All in all, Castlevania: Curse of Darkness is great, but a few small flaws leave it from being as good as it should be. The level design flaws, mainly in the department of how bland they can be, will leave some gamers disappointed when even recent 2D renditions of Castlevania (Such as Dawn of Sorrow) do so well in that field. Those looking for a great action/adventure for a current gen system will find a lot of entertainment in Curse of Darkness, and hardcore fans will love it- but some may find the game a little bland. That being said, I may play it long after I put this review up.

4.5 star(s) out of 5

Discuss More XBOX Games More Adventure Games